Fireflies
by sound of fury
Summary: The thought that she might be in love with Jax Teller had never occurred to 17-year-old Alexandra "Lexibug" Trager. Who would've thought one night in a cemetery would change her mind?


_Present Day_

"Get me a daughter." The voice was quiet and gentle. But you should never mistake gentility for weakness. The calming effect of his words just made it all the more chilling. Coming from a man behind a desk in an expensively tailored suit, the order didn't call for amplification. His lieutenants shared a look before his right hand stepped forward, ready to supply Intel. There was no tension. No need for it. This was about retaliation. But retaliation was business. There was no other way for it to be. This had to happen.

"I understand sir. If we do this, if we pick this girl-."

"I don't think you understand. I am prepared to wipe the SOA off the map. So I want you to get me Alexandra Teller. And then I want you to make a call to someone in Oakland PD to pick up her father," he paused and took a deep breath, buttoning-no, perfecting- his suit and stepped to his right hand. In a still small voice, he enunciated for clarity, "I want him to know my pain."

_Late Summer 2005_

Let freedom ring. He needed a shot of Jack and pussy. Preferably pussy. Primarily pussy. Stepping outside prison gates a free man after fourteen months was another level of indescribable liberation. Stepping outside prison gates and seeing his brothers waiting for him with his kutte was even better. He smiled; the sunshine bouncing off his face and brightening those blue eyes that had made many a woman drop their panties in anticipation. God, he couldn't wait to get laid.

His President and stepfather met him first, enveloping him in a bro hug that lasted a second longer to hint at the familiar nature of his embrace. He couldn't help but notice that Clay smelled like grease, leather, and cigar smoke. How odd it was that he found the scent comforting. Prison was a constant aroma of sweat, blood, and shit-maybe the occasional tear. Not that he would admit that to anybody. He had allowed himself the opportunity to shed one, when he had been in solitude. He took a step back and ran his fingers through his hair before being enveloped by his best friend.

"Nice to see the hair's in tack brutha," the giant drawled with a smile, initiating a hard bout of laughter from the crew.

"Shut your shit," was the response. His obvious annoyance at the jibe was met with even more laughter.

Jax Teller's hair had been a running gag all his life. The pretty boy biker who preferred Nikes to shit kickers. But say what they want, his hair had been the main reason his felony gun running charge had been knocked down to a mere eight months. Lawyer had said the judge had been a sucker for his pretty boy good looks and golden locks. Direct quote. His hair had also been the main reason why his eight month stay turned into a fourteen month stay because once those pussy starving inmates had taken one look at his hair and gotten all hot and bothered…well shit had hit proceeded to hit the fan. The first time someone pushed up on him, earned him a full week in solitary. He wasn't going to be anybody's bitch and if he had to beat the ever-loving shit out of a few sons of bitches to prove his point then that was what he would do. However, post confinement and seeing the light of day, he realized he was just too goddamned pretty for prison. Call it vain and egotistical if you life but it was the truth nonetheless. For the sake of his sanity, pride, and ass he decided to cut it. But then Lexibug had sent him a letter.

Gemma had told the teenager what had went down and he had been instructed not to let himself be forced into cutting his hair. That cutting his hair would be conforming to the system and formulating a prison mentality or some shit. That girl was always sprouting off some fight the man bullshit. Not that he could necessarily call it bullshit. As a Son he was basically sending out a big FU to the outside society's rules and regulations. But nevertheless it wasn't her first letter that had driven him to keep his hair in tact.

Her next letter had conceded that he probably hadn't cared for her political stance on why the prison system sucked. However it had read that if he hadn't cut his hair yet he should still leave it long because if she found out his hair was gone then she would cut her hair too and send her shorn locks to him via the United States Postal Service. And he knew she would do it too. That little bitch was crazy, maybe not as crazy as her father, but crazy nonetheless. I mean they were all a little bit fucked up but with fucking Tig Trager as your father you were damned to be a little bit shaky when it came to your rocker.

And crazy Lexibug with no hair? He had actually winced at the visual. He didn't mean to be cruel but Lexibug's hair was the only thing going for her. Well her hair and her eyes. It was a fierce shade of auburn with all these warm chestnut and golden blonde undertones running through it and curly like her fathers. It bounced up and down whenever she walked. Her eyes were blue like her father's but big and round yet slightly slanted like he only assumed her mother's would have been. He didn't really remember the shape of Annie's eyes. He had been about eleven or twelve when she died. But other than her hair and her eyes Lexibug was a lost cause in the looks department. She was short, skinny, and straight. Nothing that indicated femininity in her physicality at all. Her face was all angles and sharp and hard. The jeans, beat up sneakers, and backwards Reaper Crew caps hadn't helped either. So if she cut her hair the next time Gemma visited him she would blame him and stick her stiletto boots straight up his ass. But a bit of him, the part of him that was vain, also knew he had too much invested in his hair to cut it. A couple fistfights and six more months in lock up was a small price to keep his vanity and Lexibug's gender in safekeeping.

"Heard Alexandra was the one who talked yourself into staying pretty for the cock inside," came the antagonizing voice of the Sgt. At Arms.

It caused some chuckles around the group. Tig and Jax weren't close but they didn't outright hate each other. It was suspected that Alexandra had something to do with that. The girl loved her father, even with his hair-trigger temper, pension for violence, sexual perversions, and absenteeism she was loyal to him. Her mother had died when she was four in a motorcycle accident. Annie had slipped off the back of Tig's bike straight into an incoming traffic. Gemma had pretty much raised her from that point on. She was always around Jax and Thomas. And the two had treated her like the sister they never had. Especially after Thomas died. Jax had latched onto his big brother role to the extreme. When Tig had married his ex-wife and stereotypical trouble began to brew between the stepmother and the stepdaughter, the Teller-Morrow home had become a place of refuge for Alexandra. She was the glue that kept the two of them from coming to blows. Tig would never do anything to challenge his daughter's undeserving faith in him and Jax would never do anything to damage his relationship with Alexandra. Sure they fought-like siblings-but those two loved each other like only family made could.

"Yeah well she cut me a deal. Said if I cut my hair she would cut hers too. Considering the last time I saw her she was about yea high," he indicated with his hand, "and yea big", he gestured with both his hands, measuring out how thin the said teenager was in question, "I thought it best not to have your kid walking around like a twelve year old boy."

In the last three or four months-not that he was counting per se- Lexibug hadn't been to visit him. For the most of the summer she had been volunteering at some children's camp upstate but she had made not attempt before she left or when she got back to come up and see him. He had wondered why but he hadn't asked. So he had no idea why everyone begun rather loudly laughing all over again and shooting Tig such scrupulous looks.

"Get on the bike brutha. You are in for a surprise," Ope told him with a well natured punch aimed at his shoulder.

XXX

Gemma Teller-Morrow was keeping her joy well contained. She was ecstatic for her son's homecoming but at the moment she had something else on her mind. She was going to be honest. She wasn't quite sure how to handle this shit. She knew it would happen eventually but as sure as her best friend's tits were fake she had no idea it would sneak up on her like this. When her proverbial daughter had gotten back from her stint as a camp counselor at a science camp upstate she had come back wearing somebody else's body. And once the matriarch got used to it she wasn't truly all that surprised. After all, the girl's mother had been a knockout.

The object of her current concern was currently laying atop the picnic table reading a book, unknowingly displaying her now shapely ass to everyone on the lot. Gemma wasn't herself sure how she could actually read laid up on her elbows like that. The girl wasn't sure where to place her arms to keep her new 38 D's from obstructing the view to her literature. She almost laughed, knowing Lexi was just as confused about her new body as everyone else was. The girl moved awkwardly and had a hard time being comfortable with her new shape.

And the blistering heat certainly wasn't offering any assistance. The temperature and the humidity had led to an interesting wardrobe choice-or lack thereof. She was currently barefoot, in a pair of denim cutoffs that barely but still covered the ass on show and a slouchy SOA racer back tank that was tied into a knot at the back, exposing some tanned flesh. Her hair was piled atop her head to keep the heavy slightly tamed strands off the back of her neck. The girl was now sporting a brand new SOA tattoo on the back of her neck with the words Redwood Original going up her left ribcage, courtesy of Happy who had been down with some of SAMTAC a couple of weeks ago. She wasn't sure what was about to go down but she could feel fallout headed their way from Lexi as Lolita the anime version settled into things.

Lexi herself was having a hard time actually reading. She had picked up Mr. Pickle's list of American contemporary authors, planning to read it over the summer. School would be back in session in a week and she was almost finished. But then there were his British contemporary authors and French contemporary authors. Good thing it all was optional. She almost crinkled her nose. Most kids her age spent the last couple of days before school raising hell. Well her good friend Nathan did. He was April's son- a former croweater-and she was pretty sure he might be related to one of the SAMCRO progeny. No one ever talked about it though. She knew he would be out raising hell, except for tonight. Tonight he had agreed to watch the meteor shower with her. Then there was the case of her former best friend Lisa, indoctrinating herself into life as a croweater. She had came back from summer camp looking decidedly unlike the person she was when she left. And Lisa had hit the eighteen mark and showed up to a Friday night party only to hit the strip pole her first night. Talk about awkward. Well apparently it had only been awkward for her. Because the girl kept showing up.

Lexi had thought the young girl was just going through some kind of phase. It wasn't as if she was in dire need of some sense of belonging-something a lot of young girls who got mixed up with the clubs were after. Her mom was a nurse at St. Thomas and her dad was the mailman. That was as vanilla safe as you could get. Maybe she just needed some attention-it wouldn't surprise her. Lisa had always been kind of an ostentatious personality. So when she had confronted her friend about the certain shift in extracurricular activities. She hadn't been prepared for the answer. Lisa was quick to tell her that this was what she wanted to do and now that she was finally eighteen, she could do whatever the fuck she wanted. And then the girl proceeded to tell her the plan she had to snag Jax. That conversation hadn't ended well at all because all Lexi could do was laugh.

Some people called the teenager socially inept. Maybe it was true. But she just didn't see the sense in catering to Lisa's ridiculously fantasy. She had known her childhood best friend had harbored some crush for her "big brother" but she thought she would've gotten over it by now. Besides Jax had an actual type-well, when it came to relationships. He'd fuck almost anything with a vagina. She was quick to remind the dazed and star eyed young girl that Jax would be President of SAMCRO one day, making him the President of the entire SOA. And that petty, indecisive, slightly obnoxious Lisa didn't have it in her to be the head bitch in charge.

What she didn't expect was a smack down of epic croweater proportions to go down on the lot. When Lisa had accused of her of wanting Jax for herself (which was of course ridiculous considering that they both considered each other siblings, that JT's progeny was just too complicated, and that she had no desire to be the head bitch in charge) and using her new body to get it (which was almost even more ridiculous since Lexi had a hard enough time just trying to figure out her new body) she had just rolled her eyes and begun to walk away. Big mistake. Lisa's fist had came out of nowhere.

She hadn't realized how stupid her best friend was. If provoked, quiet introverted Lexi would rip a bitch's tits off. And that she did. She had been momentarily stunned by the strength behind Lisa's right hook. But not before effectively lunging at the girl and proceeding to pound her face into the asphalt of the TM lot. Lisa's head had bounced against the concrete twice before Chibs had pulled her off. Two crow eaters had been charged with making sure Lisa got home. When asked what the fight had been about, Lexi had just shrugged her shoulders and calmly explained that the bitch needed a slight reality check concerning her place within the club. She hadn't wanted to enforce the hierarchy and lose a friend. But if Lisa wanted to be a croweater then she was going to get treated like one. But looking back she had to be honest with herself. Lisa had always treated Nathan and her like her court, like she was better than them because Nathan's mom was an ex-junkie and ex-croweater who waited tables and Lexi was well…Lexi. She wasn't too sad to see the friendship, if that's what it could be called, go. Besides she had done a favor by roughing her up. If her father had found out… well a shiver actually worked itself down the teenager's spine.

Not to be misunderstood. She wasn't afraid of her father, well at least not afraid for her own safety. Never had been, never would be. Sure he was volatile and violent but never had been with her. He made sure she had everything she needed and everything she wanted. Made her smile. She knew he was probably legally insane but in her opinion it was both a charming quirk and a flaw. A lot of times she played rationale to his psychotic behavior. On more than one occasion she had stopped him from doing something he would regret. People thought her father was this emotionless creature. But it wasn't true. He felt. He just didn't know how to handle it. She knew he had done things, still did things, that could turn the stomach of the most seasoned of outlaws but it didn't bother her because she knew he loved her and he would kill for her-no questions asked.

She had to say she had been quick to remind him to keep his shit in check this morning when they all headed out to grab Jax from Stockton. A flash of guilt welled up in her at the thought. She hadn't been to see him in the three weeks she had been back. Hadn't been able to work up the nerve. And truth be told she was embarrassed by the way she looked now, still uneasy about her body. She was still working her way around things. She wasn't sure how would he respond to her growth spurt. She sure as hell hadn't figured out how to do it. Or how to manage the unwanted attention. She was used to boys talking her about math homework and looking at engine parts. Not actually talking to her. Sure there were plenty of people who don't exactly find that to be a problem. She clearly was not one of them. It seemed almost unimaginable that so much change could go down over one summer, none of her old clothes fit anymore. Gemma had to take her on an emergency shopping trip as she had put on twenty pounds and gained four inches. So she was nervous. Silly as it may seem. But she wasn't the only person who didn't know how to handle the newfound hotness.

Gemma hid it well. Her uncertainty about things. Her father, not so much. She had overheard the teasing comments made by her uncles. Not that anybody was joking about getting out the shotgun because her dad would. But she knew there would be fallout somewhere; with the way she looked now. Because like she said her dad had emotions, he just couldn't handle it. And there was no way he was even going to attempt the confusion, anger, apprehension, and protectiveness that worked his way through his mind when he thought of someone wanting to fuck his kid.

Coming to stand next to the picnic table, Gemma had come to the same conclusion. Tig couldn't handle the piece of jailbait currently residing under his roof. Speaking of fallout the rumble of a group of Harley's perked up her ears and snagged her heartbeat for a second. Ignoring the flurry of emotion at finally seeing her son where he belonged-back home and in his kutte-she spared a look at the teenager on the picnic table. Methodologically she watched Lexi close her book, place it at the corner of the picnic table and swing her legs down to dangle on the bench before leaping up onto the asphalt. She watched Lexi twist her fingers and slowly approach, bouncing on the heels of her dainty yet durable feet.

"Excited Princess?"

Lexi nodded, and then bit her lip.

"Nervous?"

"Yeah. For some reason I just feel…feel like Jax is…I don't know…I just hope it's not different between us. Like it is with everybody else. Because I, you know, look-because I grew up."

Gemma wasn't shocked at all by the teenager's perception. People thought Lexi was socially inept because she sometimes had difficulty speaking and always told the truth. But in truth the girl was more emotionally intelligent and mature than some Old Ladies who had been old ladies for a while. Gemma knew that as soon as Jax saw Lexi things were going to change. He couldn't help himself. The matriarch knew what was coming and this was something years in the making. She hadn't actually pictured her son with anybody else but Lexi. It just didn't make sense. And if the universe had proved her point, she watched her son lock eyes on his mother and the girl standing next to her only to be struck immovable.

"Lexibug?"

Alexandra Kate Trager had a lot of nicknames. Gemma called her Lexi or Princess. The club called her Lex. Classmates and peers called her Lexa. Lisa had called her Ali. Her father was the only person who called her by her full name. And Jax was the only person who called her Lexibug. Mostly because growing up she was always running around collecting things the creepy crawly in mason jars. She had stopped doing that freshmen year of high school. Even though she still refused to kill any matter of bug herself. But she had never liked to be called Lexibug. And because she didn't like it, he refused to stop calling her that. Her anxiety on the backburner for a second, Lexi reminded him "You're still… the only person who calls me that."

Gemma rolled her eyes. Why was she not surprised that was the response? Biker is struck dumb by your hotness and you're ticked he still calls you by your childhood nickname. She watched her son recover quickly before swaggering over to the both of them and removing his sunglasses.

"Well I'm always going to be the only person who calls you that darlin'," he told her with a lopsided smile.

His mother raised an eyebrow. What had just come out of his mouth? She looked over at Lexi who hadn't noticed his tone of voice. Of course not he talked like that to every female between from the age of five to fifty. She wouldn't notice anything different. But his mother sure as hell would've. The seventeen-year-old laughed and without any apparent reservation at all, threw herself into Jax's arms for a hug. He returned the embrace, hard, his hands settling on the exposed skin between her top and shorts, fingertips wiping at singular beads of sweat that dipped into hard lines and flirty curves.

Lexi took a step back and wrinkled her nose, arms still around Jax's neck, "I'm sorry I didn't come visit you last couple of months."

"No problem Lexibug, your letters kept me entertained."

"Whatever. I'm so glad you didn't cut my hair."

"Glad I can keep you happy."

When he released her, he pushed her at arms length to look her over. Smiling he asked, "When did all this happen?"

The girl blushed before shoving past him and telling him to say hi to his mother. She found her father leaning against a wall, with his sunglasses on. She knew he had been watching and she quickly replayed the scene in her head. Sure Jax had hugged her pretty hard, the embrace had lasted a little longer than it should've, his hands had lingered on the exposed skin of her stomach. But it wasn't anything too out of the ordinary. I mean after all it had been a little over a year since the last time they saw each other. But she also knew that Jax was not her father's favorite person. And she didn't want him to be angry at her, not today. When she stopped in front of him, he removed his sunglasses.

"How was your ride daddy?"

"Good. Put your shoes on Alexandra."

"Mkay. But…I can stay for um…the welcome home part tonight. Right? I mean, yesterday, yesterday you said that you were, like, okay with it," she reminded him, voice trailing off at the last bit, "But I won't stay for long," she interjected as if she had just remembered, "because I'm going to go catch some fireflies and watch the meteor shower with Nate," she told him in a rush and ending with a gasp for air.

He hadn't planned on changing his mind anyway. It was no secret that there was no love lost between the Sgt. At Arms and his President's stepson. Kid thought too much. And he had suspected the reaction to his daughter to be exactly what it was. Hell, it had been everyone's reaction. But there was still something else going on here. He had saw it in their greeting. Their hug had been intense. He knew Alexandra had missed having Jax around. For some reason he was the only person she could ever get a sentence out around without pausing or stuttering or looking at her feet as she spoke. She was never anxious around him. Maybe that was what truly bothered him. That somebody else could put his daughter at ease. He knew she loved him, was loyal to him and far from afraid of him. So why couldn't he be the one that kept her from getting tongue twisted. However that ease had in a matter of seconds acquired the spark of something else. There had been something different in the way Teller's arms had been wrapped around Alexandra's hips, something different in the way she played with the young man's hair at the nape of his neck when her arms had been around him, something different in the smiles they shared while they spoke to each other. He had seen them do it often enough to notice when something was out of the ordinary. Having her at the party tonight would allow him to investigate further. So he smiled and said, "Alexandra, why would I change my mind?"

XXX

She was seventeen, she stuttered, she was good at math, did optional reading list during the summer break, examined tree bark with her microscope when she couldn't sleep, and asked her dad why he was into necrophilia. Some people would think her weird and innocent but it was far from true except for in the most basic of senses. Welcome home parties were an excuse for people to get piss drunk and fuck on pool tables-much like any and all SOA parties. The only excuse was that the guy who had just finished serving him time had his pick of prime liquor and prime pussy. So why the hell was Jax making his way towards her with two bottles in his hand. She was pretty sure the confusion on her face was evident.

She was going to be heading out soon anyway. Her telescope and s'mores station was all set up at the house. Her dad and her had a two bedroom in a section of town that was known as SAMCRO corner. He didn't actually spend much time there. And she knew that tonight he would be crashing at the clubhouse. So she was prepared to watch the meteor shower, do some stargazing, and roast some marshmallows in peace with some Gavin DeGraw playing on her IPod. Nate was going to pick her up. She still had yet to get her driver's license. She didn't know why, she just didn't have the inclination to be transportation independent just yet. It wasn't like she really had that many places to go that somebody else wasn't already going.

"Why are you frowning," came the husky voice at her ear.

"Wondering why you're no taking the croweaters up on what they're offering."

He spared the sluts on the lot a look and was wondering the same thing. Ever since this morning he had planned on nabbing one, or two, or even three girls to keep him entertained for the night. But then his curiosity had been peaked by his god sister. He offered her a beer and she used the hem of her top to assist her in twisting the cap off. The top had flowers or some shit on it and was cut low enough, showing an ample amount of cleavage. And the jeans she wore, were tight and hung low on her hips. Yeah that was why he was intrigued.

"Don't worry about me darlin'. I've got the situation managed," he joked. He watched her roll her eyes.

"Yeah you always know how to ensure a good time," she reminded him before taking a swig of the beer in her hand. He watched the convulsion of her throat as she swallowed, watched strands of hair graze across the skin of her neck and felt himself taking a gulp of his own beer. He heard someone shout his name from across the lot and felt his eyes widen as Lexi turned to face the direction of the sound. Her top had an exposed back. Speckled flashes of amber light hit the skin of her golden back. Smooth skin worked over should blades, down her spine, and ending in the dimpled section of her lower back.

What the fuck is going on here? This morning when he had jokingly asked her when did she get hot he had honestly been joking but now he recognized something taking root in the lower part of his body. He could choke it up to the Jack he had indulged himself in before she even got here. He needed the liquid courage, mainly because for the first time in his life he had no game plan to handle this sudden burst of whatever this was. For a split second today he hadn't known who she was. But then she was still same ol' Lexibug. Clever, intuitive, intelligent Lexi. She was just…hot. And suddenly he knew that those combinations in a female never bode well for anybody.

"Jesus Christ Lexibug, I can't believe Tig let you out the house wearing that."

Her head snapped around and she frowned before looking down at herself, "Gemma bought me this. She had to. Most of my old clothes don't fit anymore."

"No shit. That sure as hell doesn't fit either. Your jeans are way too tight and you're practically naked on top."

"I think we both know I have on more clothes than ninety percent of the female population present. And of course it fits. It's supposed to fit like this. I knew this would happen," she mumbled.

"Knew what would happen," he snapped before wincing. He could see that she was beginning to get uncomfortable but he couldn't help but push. She couldn't go walking around places like that. Especially not here. Sure she was Tig's daughter but she would hit eighteen soon and then she'd be fair game. And fair game shouldn't go around advertising tight curves, a pair of perfect tits, and a round ass even he was tempted to grab. He had once said that Lexi's eyes and hair were the only things going for her but now wide big, round, slightly slanted blue eyes and now all that damn hair curling around a face that had filled out from hard angles and straight lines to soft curves and full lips he had to concede she was a knockout. And he didn't like it one bit.

"That'd you lose your shit because I don't look like a twelve year old boy anymore," she told him through clenched teeth before taking the last of her beer and throwing the bottle down on the ground and stomping into the clubhouse.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. This was not how he pictured this conversation going. He just wanted his life to be drama free for the night but no; he just had to talk to Lexibug instead of getting his dick sucked. Who makes a stupid decision like that? Instead she was ticked. And a ticked Lexi was never good. She had the uncanny ability to make you feel like shit for days at a time. He was always the one who ended up apologizing. When he opened his eyes, he noticed Opie coming towards him. Beer in hand, smile on his face.

"So I was heading out and saw Lex throw her bottle down in front of you. I'm pretty sure she's probably at the bar with Bobby and Piney now."

"Whatever. I don't know why she's pissed," he lied.

"Well I do. You probably stuck your foot in your mouth. It probably had something to do with what she was wearing."

"Can you believe Gemma bought her that," he erupted, remembering the unconscious sway of her ass as she stormed off, "as if that was a good idea."

"Yeah we're used to baggy jeans and her borrowing your old t-shirts. Those days are long gone brutha."

"She says she knew I would lose my shit because she doesn't look like a twelve year old boy anymore. Guess that's why she didn't come see me this last month in Stockton."

"If it makes you feel any better, Lex is just as uncomfortable with the newfound attention. Even had to wrangle Nate up by the neck a time or two. I don't even want to know what Tig's going to have his hands full with when school starts back next week."

Opie watched the expression that passed across his best friend's face. Ever since Thomas had died, Jax had always been extremely protective of Lex. He kept the bullies at bay and there had been a lot of those, who teased her because of her looks, because she was smart, because she sometimes stuttered. Opie didn't think Jax ever realized that there would come a day when he had to reevaluate his position concerning the girl he thought of as his sister. Because now there would still be bullies, high school was programmed that way, but there would also be horny teenage boys on the prowl. The two of them had been horny teenage boys, which was why he knew what Nate had been thinking when he had gotten that faraway look in his eyes. But like Gemma he also had a sneaking suspicion that there were less than brotherly thoughts going through Jax's head right now.


End file.
